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The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) forms a protein complex with FKBP51 that is increased in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and by fear conditioned learning. Disrupting the GR-FKBP51 complex with a synthetic peptide can block the storage or retrieval of fear conditioned memories, which could be a novel approach to the alleviate fear associated memory in PTSD. However, a potential unacceptable side effect could be the impairment of other types of memory. Thus, we investigated the effect of disrupting the GR-FKBP51 complex on recognition memory using the novel object and displaced object recognition tasks, spatial memory in the Morris water maze, and on social interaction in Crawley's three-chamber social interaction test. We did not observe adverse effects on these other types of memory and conclude that the GR-FKBP51 interaction remains a promising target for treating psychiatric disorders characterized by unwanted aversive memories such as in PTSD. • Disruption of the GR-FKBP51 protein complex can alleviate the acute aversive effects seen in fear conditioning. • Uncoupling the GR-FKBP51 protein complex does not affect novel object recognition or novel location recognition memory. • Interrupting the GR-FKBP51 protein complex does not alter social interaction or spatial memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]